VR, which provides immersive closed-loop experience, can only be used to a limited extent due to the size and weight of head-mounted devices, and will still be the main force of the market before consumer-grade AR products are achieved in the aspects of technology and prices of hardware. However, it is expected AR hardware and technology will be fully mature and quickly capture VR market in 2019 because of its wide applicability in business market. Hence, global VR/AR market will reach USD970 million and USD500 million in 2016 and USD30 billion and USD90.8 billion in 2020, respectively.

Today's AR hardware is typically implemented in three ways: head-mounted displays, hand-held displays, and world-fixed displays by the distance away from eyes, with the first the most commonly seen. AR technology now is primarily applied to industrial manufacturing, repair, healthcare, military, television relaying, games entertainment, education, relic restoration, tourism exhibition, and municipal construction planning, chiefly for commercial use.

VR Trends:

PC VR products, primarily games and movies, will be targeted at expert players and game enthusiasts;

Mobile VR products gradually move into business fields like education and tourism;

The number of content development teams will increase, and the scope of VR contents will broaden.

AR Trends:

Display devices become smaller, and any plane can be bent into a screen; Fusion of AR technology and 3D visualization technology and projection technology brings about disruptive changes to navigation;